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Daily Archives: February 28, 2014

Rutgers’ Usha Gilmore scores a layup during a 74-70 win against Connecticut at the RAC on Feb. 10, 1998 — the first for the Scarlet Knights in a longstanding rivalry that might end Saturday. (MyCentralJersey.com file photo)

PISCATAWAY It started with Rutgers wanting to be the Jewel of the East and it is ending because Rutgers is joining the ranks of the Midwest.

The rivalry between the Rutgers and Connecticut women’s basketball teams dates back to July 1995 when, with UConn fresh off winning its first national title, new coach C. Vivian Stringer said, “I just know that Rutgers will be the ‘Jewel of the East’” at her first press conference.

Now, with Rutgers headed to the Big Ten next season, the 4 p.m. matchup today at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn. is the final scheduled meeting. Both coaches have publicly expressed interest in continuing the series, but it likely is too late to get anything done for next season.

“I knew that they were the power that they were, and my attitude is that if somebody is good I want to go to it,” Stringer said. “Did I know that we were going to win a couple games? No, but I knew that we were going to compete.”

Here is a look back at the history of Rutgers-UConn, broken down into three distinct eras, where intensity is the common theme.

“You pay attention to how people walk, how they talk, how they tie their shoes coming up to this game,” said Chelsea Newton, a former Rutgers star (2001-05) turned assistant coach.

The first 18 meetings: Years before Cappie Pondexter jabbed her finger into Geno Auriemma’s chest after thinking the coach aimed a derogatory comment her way, and before Auriemma dismissed the rivalry as “one-sided” and called Rutgers fans “ignorant,” Rutgers’ Usha Gilmore reacted to what she saw as a bump in the postgame handshake line by shoving UConn’s Tammy Arnold.

The footage made ESPN’s continuous loop. The bad blood officially was born Jan. 15, 1997.

“We had the bark as well as the fight in our years,” said Gilmore, who went on to play in the WNBA and is now the head coach at Illinois Institute of Technology. “Our little sisters followed suit and made Rutgers stronger and stronger. It never seems to fail. Whenever UConn-Rutgers plays, it’s going to be a packed house, it’s going to be intense, and every little thing might spark something.”

Gilmore still remembers the date (Feb. 10, 1998) of Rutgers’ first win, when then-freshman Linda Miles ran past the UConn bench and said “Four more years.” It was Rutgers’ only win in the first 18 meetings.

“I remember it like it was yesterday because it was that sweet of a moment. Everybody always hypes it up so much, but when that day comes, ‘Oh, the lights come on,’” Gilmore said. “I remember Coach Stringer being all smiles. We loved to see her like that because we remember seeing her straight-faced and all about the business and that one time she was really, really light. We felt like we gave her the world.”

The next eight meetings: Rutgers’ win on Feb. 13, 2005 ushered in a new era where the rivalry arguably was the best in the sport. Weeks later, Rutgers clinched the first of back-to-back Big East regular-season championships, ending UConn’s run of 11 straight in the process.

Hall of Famer C. Vivian Stringer says she is close to a contract extension that would keep her as Rutgers women’s basketball coach beyond this season. (Mark Sullivan/MyCentralJersey.com)

PISCATAWAY – With only one home game remaining on the Rutgers women’s basketball schedule, Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer said Friday that she is not looking at the next few weeks as a possible farewell because she and athletics director Julie Hermann are in the “final stages” of negotiations on a new contract.

“To allay any fears or concerns, I haven’t been concerned about that,” Stringer said. “Julie and I are committed to one another for sure. I’m committed to Rutgers. Rutgers is committed to me. We are in the final stages of our contract now. We’re working on things. I’m not worried about that.”

Stringer, 65, earned $963,216 in gross pay as the university’s highest-paid employee in 2013 but has an annual total package worth at least $1.035 million. She signed a seven-year extension off of a run to the 2007 NCAA Tournament final that is set to expire June 30 – one day before Rutgers officially joins the Big Ten Conference.

After a recent stretch of sub-standard seasons, including missing the NCAA Tournament last season for the first time in 10 years, No. 24 Rutgers (21-6, 12-4) has avoided the potential distraction of its coach’s uncertain future heading into Saturday’s visit to No. 1 Connecticut. The regular season ends at home Monday against South Florida and the American Athletic Conference Tournament is next weekend.

“I’m just trying to focus on winning basketball games,” Stringer said. “That’s what (Hermann) wants me to do and that’s what I want to do. I don’t want the kids to worry. We have something on our mind and that is to do as well as we can. I’d be kidding if I didn’t say that we want to do some damage in the (conference). I’m not out there just playing for the sake. We want to position ourselves as best we can so we can be a NCAA participant.”

The terms of a potential extension are unknown, but it is thought that Rutgers, which is operating with a $47 million athletic department subsidy, wants an incentive-laden contract. In a heated exchange with the media, Stringer challenged former athletics director Tim Pernetti to “step up” in contract negotiations last February, but Pernetti since has been replaced by Hermann, the former women’s basketball administrator at Louisville.

“She is going to take us into the Big Ten,” Hermann told Gannett New Jersey in January. “I don’t know how long we will arm-wrestle over the details of a contract about what she wants and what Rutgers can do, but my intent is for (her) to lead us into the Big Ten and her intent is to do so.”

Stringer is one of just seven men’s or women’s college basketball coaches with 900 career victories. She has led three schools to the Final Four, including Iowa of the Big Ten, and Rutgers in 2000 and 2007.

“You’ve heard Julie say that she’s looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to it,” Stringer said of the Big Ten. “To me, it’s going back home. It’s quite natural. I’m excited about it. She’s excited about it. We as an athletic department are looking forward to our challenges and the competition. I’m really fired up and ready to go.”

The Rutgers women’s basketball team’s first Big Ten schedule was released Friday afternoon, and it includes five home-and-home series, including two the closest geographical opponents.

Every team will play every other team at least once — four opponents on the road only, four at home only and five home-and-homes — and there will not be divisions.

Rutgers will play host to Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska, and will visit Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State and Wisconsin. The home-and-homes will be highlighted by Penn State and Maryland but also include Indiana, Michigan and Purdue.

Big Ten women’s basketball teams previously competed in 18-game conference schedules from the 1982-83 through the 1993-94 seasons, and again from the 2007-08 through the 2009-10 campaigns.

Dates and times for specific matchups will be announced in the future.

Head coach Steve Pikiell came up big in landing the playmaking floor general Monday was a hugely important day for the Rutgers men’s basketball program, as point guard of the future, Paul Mulcahy, signed his national letter of intent, making him officially a Scarlet Knight. Mulcahy is rated a 3-star and 4-star prospect, depending on […]